Austen's 1813 novel related the many missteps and misunderstandings on the way to matrimony. The same is, of course, true of banking core systems initiatives. There's universal acknowledgement that banks of all sizes need modern core systems to be competitive and in compliance. However, the road to that ideal state isn't easy and is littered with spurned suitors … er, vendors, embarrassed CIOs, frustrated knowledge workers and most of all dissatisfied customers who take their love … er, business elsewhere.

For all the talk about business cases, technology platforms and pricing, the success or failure of a bank's effort to successfully replace or modernize its core systems often comes down to the essentials of project management. Unfortunately, even the best project management disciplines can be stymied by intangible elements such as culture and communications. There is a still-very-real disconnect between IT (which has to implement the system and get the project done on time and within budget) and the lines of business (which may have romantic and unrealistic expectations about the project and what the new system can deliver). Too often what should be a collaborative and productive partnership degenerates to irritation, finger-pointing and confrontation.

Effective project management is typically hindered by "the challenges [IT] professionals face when the overarching culture is in conflict with the intense cross-functional collaboration needed to create a true success," he noted in a recent exchange about his book. "IT failure, in my experience, is a failure of management, not IT (in most cases). Our management beliefs and practices are inadequate to the task. ... Success stems from building a highly productive, cross-functional culture, where every area of IT that touches the project, including the business and product areas, share true joint ownership of the outcome. Nothing else works."

Wander's observations underscore the reality that it clearly takes more than a project plan, determination and a budget to achieve a pleasing outcome on a core systems initiative. It requires a true and long-term partnership -- not just with a vendor but also among colleagues. There's no happy ending without it.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio

The larger point that Wander makes is that CIOs are trying to get results out of knowledge workers using a paradigm that was created for manual work. Manual workers are more or less interchangeable "resources" whose creative human qualities are largely irrelevant. Not so with knowledge workers engaged in a creative enterprise.

Right, of course this applies to any kind of systems initiative, not just core systems modernization. Not all that long ago (70s, 80s, 90s) most major IT projects were in-house development vs today's reliance on packages, especially around core systems (actually, those are the legacy systems that now must be modernized). Probably many of the same issues existed, but it was just assumed that IT must know what they were doing. Of course they didn't call them IT back then either, it was DP (data processing) or MIS (management information systems).

In a long drawn out process like a core initiative there are going to be times when things don't go according to plan. That's just the way it is. If everyone doesn't understand that - and understand that there shouldn't be any finger pointing when it does happen - then it is definitely a leadership issue, not an IT one.

Wander's take that culture and attitudes are the critical factors in the success or failure of IT initiatives is becoming a common one. I believe Wander himself has compared IT pros to artists, that is increasingly the way they must view themselves, rather than order-takers.